With the exception of his one march on Nottingham, King AEthelred had done nothing to save his under-kingdoms from the wreck.

But the pirates no sooner pushed up Thames to Reading in 871 than the West-Saxons, attacked on their own soil, turned fiercely at bay.

A desperate attack drove the northmen from Ashdown on the heights that overlook the Vale of White Horse, but their camp in the tongue of land between the Kennet and Thames proved impregnable.

AEthelred died in the midst of the struggle, and his brother AElfred, who now became king, bought the withdrawal of the pirates and a few years' breathing-space for his realm.

It was easy for the quick eye of AElfred to see that the northmen had withdrawn simply with the view of gaining firmer footing for a new attack; three years indeed had hardly passed before Mercia was invaded and its under-king driven over sea to make place for a tributary of the invaders.